MRT wrapped up the 2011-2012 school year with an End of the Year picnic at the Storrow Lagoon on the Esplanade on the Boston side of the Charles River. The RC Raft got some time in the Charles (and made the acquaintance of several sets of Weekend Kayakers) and the team got to enjoy a picnic catered by Blue Ribbon BBQ. All and all, it was a great way to wrap up a year. The team looks forward to 2012-2013.

David, Emma and I took the RC Raft onto the river for more testing. Unfortunately, it was late on Sunday and the pictures are a little dark. But otherwise, the raft was doing great! We also took two videos.

After finishing “Construction: Phase 2”, Chris, David and I were lucky enough to catch a ride with Sandi from the Edgerton Center down to the river. Even though it was getting pretty dark, we wanted to get the RC Raft onto the river. The raft needed some more work but for a first test, it did pretty well.

Jaya and I started Phase 2 off by assembling a frame to attach to the pontoons and to hold the electronics box. Qui and Erik worked on integrating the RC receiver into the Wild Thumper motor controller and soldering batteries. David made motor mounts to attach the bilge pump cartridges in pairs to the raft. After this, Chris, David and I worked on finalizing the frame, attaching the pontoons, and creating a plate to hold the electronics box that would mount onto the frame. We also did some additional tinkering with the RC reciever and transmitter.